Municipal authorities takes notice of posh areas too

LUDHIANA: The TOI report on the danger of vector-borne diseases facing residents of posh localities has hit the nail on its head. On Wednesday, municipal authorities started fogging Model Town Extension. They have also prepared a schedule for fogging Model Town, Model Gram, Sarabha Nagar, BRS Nagar and other areas.

On Tuesday, TOI highlighted that MC had started fumigation on the city's outskirts while ignoring posh areas that had reported the most number of malaria and dengue cases last summer. Residents were fuming at the MC's bias even though the problem of mosquito breeding is the same across Ludhiana.

Claiming that the civic body is ''fully prepared'' for the season, MC's health officer Dr Vipan Malhotra assured that there will be a strict check on the spread of any vector-borne disease. ''We started fogging around a month ago. All areas would be covered and we will not let malaria or dengue spread,'' he said.

Dr Malhotra added that according to the schedule, fogging will be done in Model Gram on Thursday, Dayal Nagar, Ghumar Mandi will be covered on Friday, Sarabha Nagar and some parts of BRS Nagar on Saturday and the remaining portion of BRS Nagar will be fogged on Monday.

News that MC will cover all areas of the city one by one has brought some relief to residents. ''Mosquitoes have started breeding in all areas so there was no point in fogging only 'sensitive' areas,'' said Ashok Narang, a banker staying in BRS Nagar.

Businessman Charanjit Singh of Model Town said they had already been suffering disturbed sleep because of mosquitoes.

''We have been hoping that the authorities would pay attention to posh localities also and start fogging before things get out of hand,'' he said.